A Haven Hall classroom was 

overflowed with University of 
Michigan students listening to a 
series of speakers who discussed 
the 
Deferred 
Action 
for 

Childhood Arrivals program, 
which may come under threat 
because of executive actions by 
President Donald Trump. 

DACA, an executive action 

— signed in 2012 by former 
President Barack Obama in 
response to a gridlock on 
immigration 
policy 
on 
the 

part of Congress — protects 
undocumented students from 
deportation and allows them to 
obtain work permits. However, 
it does not provide a path to 
citizenship.

Trump 
has 
repeatedly 

advocated stricter immigration 
laws, deporting undocumented 
workers and building a wall 
along the southern border with 
Mexico. On Saturday, University 
President 
Mark 
Schlissel 

reaffirmed 
the 
University’s 

commitment to international 
students 
by 
reiterating 
its 

policy against releasing the 
immigration status of students. 
The announcement followed 
Trump’s signing of an executive 
action 
barring 
immigration 

from several majority-Muslim 
countries.

The first speaker, Karma 

Chavez, a professor at the 
University 
of 
Texas-Austin, 

said she believes immigration 

is currently one of the most 
prominent issues today.

“I am very excited to be here 

for this occasion,” she said. “I 
don’t think there is anything 
more crucial we can be talking 
about in this moment. And 
I have shifted what I have 
planned to focus on a bit 
because the last two weeks have 
been rather intense.”

Citing 
the 
political 

turbulence of the last three 

weeks, she focused on sanctuary 
cities, which have become a 
rallying point for many amid 
anti-immigrant rhetoric and 
actions from the White House. 
In recent months, the Central 
Student Government has been 
working toward making the 
University a sanctuary campus.

Chavez argues institutional 

sanctuary is more of a fallacy 
than anything else, and while 
universities and cities can help 

facilitate grassroots movements 
in 
favor 
of 
undocumented 

people, their connections to 
institutions will keep them 
inherently suspicious in their 
eyes. 

She 
also 
noted 
that, 

while schools are obviously 
protected spaces, actions like 
the outlawing of gun bans on 
campuses in Texas, to the fact 
that schools do not have the 

Gretchen 
Whitmer, 
former 

Democratic minority leader in the 
Michigan state Senate and lecturer 
at the Ford School of Public 
Policy, addressed the University 
of Michigan’s chapter of College 
Democrats Thursday night about 
her 
candidacy 
for 
Michigan 

governor in 2018.

Whitmer 
officially 
filed 

paperwork 
for 
the 
upcoming 

gubernatorial race in January, 
becoming the first candidate to 
officially enter.

Previously, 
Whitmer 
served 

in 
the 
Michigan 
House 
of 

Representatives from 2001 to 2006, 
the Michigan Senate from 2006 
to 2014 and most recently served 
as the Ingham County prosecutor 
until her term expired on Dec. 31, 
2016.

Whitmer cited the Flint Water 

Crisis as one of the chief reasons 
why she decided to run for governor 
in 2018, saying if elected, she will 
strive to ensure that a government 
failure of that proportion will never 
happen again.

“The Flint Water Crisis is 

maybe what put me over the 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, February 3, 2017

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 22
©2016 The Michigan Daily

N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

See WHITMER, Page 3

Governor 
candidate 
talks with 
students

GOVERNMENT 

Gretchen Whitmer met 
with College Democrats 
to talk voter engagement

CALEB CHADWELL

Daily Staff Reporter

CAROLYN GEARIG/Daily

LSA professor Silvia Pedraza discusses the impact of child immigration policy at Haven Hall on Thursday.

Professors discuss the impact 
of Pres. Trump on DACA future

Series of speakers talk immigration in light of current political context

NIKOLA JAKSIC

For the Daily

michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit

See DACA, Page 3

Following 
Justice 
Sonia 

Sotomayor’s and German Justice 
Susanne 
Baer’s 
bicentennial 

colloquium 
discussion 
on 

Monday, three University of 
Michigan 
faculty 
members 

hosted a panel discussing the 
justices’ remarks and the issues 
of diversity and representation 
on campus in the Michigan 
League Ballroom on Thursday 
afternoon. About 75 students, 
faculty and Ann Arbor residents 
attended the event.

Presidential Bicentennial Prof. 

Martha Jones gave the opening 
remarks at Monday’s colloquium.

The 
colloquium 
largely 

focused the University’s lack of 
diversity. On Monday, Sotomayor 
referenced the low number of 
African-American students at 
the University. As of October 
2016, less than 5 percent of 
students at the University are 
African American.

“We 
are 
making 
large 

improvements towards a kind of 
equality but we are still far from 
it,” Sotomayor said. “When you 
look at the number of African 

See SOTOMAYOR, Page 3

Panel talks 
Sotomayor, 
Baer visit, 
diversity

CAMPUS LIFE

The professors discussed 
the lack of diversity on 
the University’s campus

MATT HARMON
Daily Staff Reporter

Office hours were held in 

the hallways of Haven Hall 
on Thursday as the Graduate 
Employees’ 
Organization 
— 

the labor union representing 
graduate student instructors and 
graduate student staff assistants 
employed by the University of 
Michigan — held a “grade-in” 
to promote awareness of the 
contract-bargaining process they 
have been undertaking with the 
University since November and 
to increase visibility of graduate 
student labor.

About 100 GSIs and GSSAs 

crowded the ledges and the floor 
along the hall from 10 a.m. to 2 
p.m. for the grade-in, in an effort to 
make the work graduate students 
do for undergraduate students 
and the University visible.

Some of the GEO’s proposals, 

intended to improve diversity, 
equity, inclusion and accessibility 
for graduate student employees, 
were declined or not satisfactorily 
met by the University’s most 

recent offer.

“We hope that this (grade-in) 

indicates to the University that 
we’re paying attention and that 
we expect more,” said Rackham 
student Denise Bailey, a member 
of the GEO.

“The University, in our opinion, 

can afford to support us more 
than they do,” Bailey added, citing 
that 23 percent of undergraduate 
contact with faculty is with GSIs, 
but 1 percent of the University’s 
budget is reserved for graduate 
student staff, a statistic included 
in the GEO’s press releases. 

When reached for comment, 

University spokeswoman Kim 
Broekhuizen wrote in an email, 
“Negotiations are underway, so 
it would be premature to get into 
specifics. We believe we will reach 
a successful resolution.”

Among the proposals that 

GEO representatives say have not 
been met by the University is the 
creation of paid staff positions 
for graduate students working 
on diversity programs as part of 
the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 
plan launched by University 

GEO holds 
‘grade-in’ 
to publicize 
demands

Executive order teach-in explores 
visa, green card holders’ rights

See GEO, Page 3

KEVIN ZHENG/Daily

Michigan ACLU Deputy Director Rana Elmir discusses the Executive Order on immigrants and refugees and its potential impact on UM Students at Angell Hall on 
Thursday. 

ADMINISTRATION

GSI’s held office hours in the Haven 
Hall hallways for rights awareness

ALON SAMUEL

For the Daily

Deputy director of Michigan ACLU and Muslim American Studies Dept. host event

Recent 
executive 
actions 

by President Donald Trump’s 
administration 
prompted 
an 

“Executive 
Order 
Teach-In” 

event featuring Rana Elmir, 
the deputy director of the 
American Civil Liberties Union 
of Michigan. At the talk Elmir 
discussed the rights of citizens, 
green-card holders and visa 
holders in light of an executive 
order signed last Friday.

The University of Michigan 

Muslim 
Graduate 
Student 

Association 
and 
Arab 
and 

Muslim 
American 
Studies 

Department hosted the event, 
which filled a classroom in 
Angell Hall and two overflow 
rooms.

Elmir 
examined 
the 

executive 
order 
signed 
on 

Jan. 27, titled “Protesting the 
Nation from Foreign Terrorist 
Entry into the United States,” 
which 
most 
notably 
blocks 

entry 
of 
immigrants 
and 

nonimmigrants 
from 
Iraq, 

Iran, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and 
Somalia for 90 days — with the 
possibility of renewal — and 
Syria indefinitely.

The executive order also 

suspends 
the 
U.S. 
Refugee 

Admissions 
Program, 
which 

works to find and resettle 
immigrants 
in 
the 
United 

States, for 120 days.

Elmir said she believes this 

executive order is specifically 
a 
Muslim 
ban, 
which 
is 

demonstrated by the specifics 
of the executive order.

“Anti-Muslim discrimination 

has been a part of American 
history for as long as Muslims 
have been in this country,” 
Elmir said. “And you move 
forward and put in policies and 
practices that show that you 
devalue this community. Well 
that’s what you have now, with 
this Muslim ban.”

LSA senior Tamanna Ahad, 

a Muslim affected personally 
by the executive order, hopes 
the event can help nurture 
conversation and knowledge 
regarding immigration.

COLIN BERESFORD

Daily Staff Reporter

See GREEN CARD, Page 3

